​Grantham is probably known best for two things, once being voted the most boring town in Britain and for being the hometown of one Margaret Roberts (Thatcher). They also have a pretty decent football team, Grantham Town, known as the Gingerbreads. The origin of this nickname is said to date back to the 18th Century when a local baker was trying to make Grantham Whetstone, a traditional hard biscuit designed for travellers. He mixed up the ingredients and invented a new gingerbread snack which became very popular, and this is where the club gets its nickname.
Strangely, Grantham are not the only team to feature Ginger in their nickname. NPL Division 1 South side Market Drayton Town are known as the Gingerbread Men. Ginger was brought back to the Shropshire area by Clive of India and the bakers of Market Drayton used the spice to create gingerbread in the late 18th century.
 
Heading East from Shropshire we come across Northern Counties East side Clipstone. The club was known as Clipstone Welfare until 2013 when they dropped the Welfare part and became Clipstone FC. At around about the same time they also adopted the nickname The Cobras. Cobras in Nottinghamshire you may ask? Well, somewhat disappointingly, there is nothing too mysterious about this moniker. The club ran a poll to find a new nickname and The Cobras came out on top.
 
Next stop on our whirlwind tour is Lancashire. Lancaster City's nickname, The Dolly Blues, relates to the fact that their kit bore a resemblance to the colour of the popular, early 20th Century, laundry product of the same name. William Edge and Sons manufactured Dolly Blue in their factory near Bolton for over a hundred years. City's social club, just outside their ground, was also known as the Dolly Blue Tavern.
 
Switching from West to East we find Eastern Counties Premier side Fakenham Town, who have a rather unusual nickname, The Ghosts. There are no clues to the name’s origin on the club website or the wiki entry. However, there is a poem written by Suffolk-born poet Robert Bloomfield (1766 - 1823), The Fakenham Ghost, so maybe this is the source of the nickname? Perhaps someone from the club could shed some light on this or perhaps it should stay a mystery?
 
Staying in the East of England, we head north to Norfolk. Swaffham Town get their nickname, The Pedlars, from an old English folk tale. A pedlar from the town dreamt that if he went to London, stood on London Bridge and listened, he would hear joyful news. When he acted upon his dream, to no avail, a local shopkeeper told him to stop being so stupid and return home to look for the treasure that the shopkeeper had dreamt of in the pedlar's own garden. He returns, finds the treasure and uses it to rebuild the local church.
 
As we head West again, towards our ultimate destination in Cornwall, we come across Combined Counties side, Redhill FC. Apart from the rather obvious, given the name of the town and the teams colours, of The Reds they also use the rather interesting Lobsters. This, for a seaside town, would be a reasonable nickname but the town is a good 35 miles from the coast. The name, apparently, comes from a competition to find a new nickname in 1994. However, the nickname can be found in the club’s annals as far back as the twenties when the colour in their red & white shirts would sometimes blend into a pink shade reminiscent of a lobster.
 
A slight detour into South Oxfordshire for our penultimate team, Wantage Town or the Freds as they are known. Freds being short for Alfredians. The ground is also called Alfredian Park and there are many Alfredian references in the town. The reason behind this is that Wantage is the birthplace of King Alfred the Great.
 
Finally, into Cornwall and Newquay AFC, known as The Peppermints. Thanks to the Newquay web administrator we now know that this name originates from 1906 when supporters of the club noticed a resemblance between the club's red and white striped shirts and that of a popular boiled peppermint sweet. Indeed, we are reliably informed that both the team and the sweets were regarded as 'ot stuff!

We all know of Blues, United, Rovers, Reds etc but what about the names that don't immediately explain themselves?

The first team that we will look at is the team that inspired this article, Stamford AFC. The Daniels, for that is their nickname, play in the NPL Premier League but where did their unusual moniker come from? You would be excused for thinking that it was, maybe, a hangover from an old works team name. There are, after all, many examples of teams that have retained names from their days as the sports team attached to a factory. However, in the case of Stamford it is far more obscure. Daniel Lambert is, in fact, where the nickname originates from. Daniel who? You may say. Well, Daniel Lambert was recorded as the heaviest ever man in Britain. He died in 1809, in the town of Stamford, weighing in at an incredible 52 stone (give or take the odd pound). He is buried in the churchyard of St Martin's which lies just a few hundred yards from the club's home, Borderville Stadium.

Moving South somewhat, we come to the Northamptonshire town of Wellingborough where we find two United Counties teams and two unusual nicknames to go with them. Starting with the UCL Premier side, Wellingborough Town, or the Doughboys as they are known. If you know anything about the Wellingborough area, home of Whitworths flour manufacturers, you would think flour, dough, Doughboys. It seems to make sense. However, the nickname is thought to derive from a local speciality "ock 'n' dough" comprising of hock of bacon and vegetables wrapped in pastry. A Northamptonshire pasty, you could say.
The other Wellingborough team, Whitworth, are known as the Flourmen. This is no real surprise as the team was originally called Whitworths and, presumably, was the football team of the Whitworth flour factory some 200 yards from the ground. The strange thing about Whitworth is that the connection to the flour company is not mentioned on the website or on Wikipedia at all. In fact, the official website history states the team was formed as result of the Wellingborough Ideal Clothiers club disbanding. So, maybe there is another reason for the Flourmen nickname? Maybe someone will enlighten us?

From Northamptonshire we move North-West to Halesowen and a bit of a mystery nickname. Halesowen Town are known as The Yeltz. The have been known as The Yeltz for as long as anyone can remember. However, no-one really seems to have a good explanation for this odd name. The official club website (http://www.ht-fc.com/history/club-history/why-the-yeltz.html) has an entire section dedicated to the question Why the Yeltz? and, as it states, the truth is - nobody really knows. I'll let you decide which theory seems to be the most realistic. My personal favourite is the least likely (and most likely one to be an April Fool joke) about the Hungarian player Pungus Catfich.

From the industrial West Midlands to leafy West London and Hampton & Richmond Borough FC, on the banks of the Thames. The club is known as The Beavers and, with such proximity to the river, you may think with good cause. But wait....beavers...in London. Maybe there is more to this name than meets the eye. Well, maybe. Hampton & Richmond play at The Beveree, named after the house whose grounds the stadium once stood in. There is a nearby road called Beaver Close and an ancient stream flows under the pitch, into the Thames a few hundred yards away. So, the nickname could come from the name of the house or it could be a reference to the animal which may have lived on the banks of the river before it became extinct in the UK. We may never know for sure.

Not a million miles away to the west lies the Surrey town of Chertsey, home of Combined Counties Premier side Chertsey Town. Here we find another unusual nickname, The Curfews. This is apparently a reference to a famous local bell that hangs in St Peter's Church. This was used to signal the start of the curfew in town each evening (now used ceremonially only, of course) and may date back as far as 1235. Details on the Chertsey Curfew Bell can be found here (http://www.stpeterschertsey.org/bells/curfew.htm).

Our final stop for now is the North East and the Teeside town of Billingham. One of the local teams in the town is called Billingham Synthonia who are nicknamed, unsurprisingly, The Synners. However, this still qualifies as an unusual nickname because of the nature of the club's name, Synthonia, which is a contraction of "synthetic ammonia". This was a product manufactured by ICI with whom the club, at one time, had a close connection. So, Billingham Synthonia hold the dubious title of being the only club (as far as we know) to be named after an agricultural fertiliser. Surely something that has not escaped rival fans over the years.